Virtual Space Google Credit Prank Cereal Disease Romeo
Here,
you draw the thread between links:
Wired News: Gamers Eye Open Virtual Worlds...Ludlow is a big fan of an emerging concept in massively multiplayer online game circles: the open-source metaverse. Built by independent contributors, the open-source metaverse is an infinitely extensible virtual world with few rules and no oversight from corporate overlords.
"Instead of the game being developed by a game corporation, it would be developed by multiple users donating time in sort of a wiki style," said Ludlow, a philosophy professor at the University of Michigan. "This is a different picture, one in which the games would emerge in a bottom-up kind of way. The structure wouldn't be dictated, but would emerge from numerous people trying to extend the game space."
Ludlow acknowledges that his vision of a fully open-source virtual world is a couple of years off. But it's not total fantasy. There are already at least three groups implementing some form of open, metaverse-like platform: The Open Source Metaverse Project, or OSMP, the Croquet Project and MUPPETS.
Everquest Design 2004 - Own a piece of historyUnique, limited edition bags with AUTHENTIC parachutes from Space Station missions, America's Cup sails, Mount Everest Expeditions and more.
The magic that makes Google tick: ZDNet Australia: Insight: SoftwareThe numbers alone are enough to make your eyes water.
# Over four billion Web pages, each an average of 10KB, all fully indexed.
# Up to 2,000 PCs in a cluster.
# Over 30 clusters.
# 104 interface languages including Klingon and Tagalog.
# One petabyte of data in a cluster -- so much that hard disk error rates of 10-15 begin to be a real issue.
# Sustained transfer rates of 2Gbps in a cluster.
# An expectation that two machines will fail every day in each of the larger clusters.
# No complete system failure since February 2000.
AnnualCreditReport: new state laws force creditors to give us free credit checks every year.
This central site allows you to request a free credit file disclosure, commonly called a credit report, once every 12 months from each of the nationwide consumer credit reporting companies: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.
Project: The Game!
Cereality, a franchise I think I hate more than Starbucks.
Cereality is more than a place to get cereal. It's a new way of thinking about cereal.
CDC - GHO - Kids' Page - Disease Cards (100% irony-free, for kids!)
This card set has photos and information about some of the infectious diseases that CDC studies.
Customized Classics (questionable ironic content, link courtesy of Dave)
Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare's classic drama of passionate love—now released as a unique personalized romance with YOU playing the part of the famous lovers. A novel wedding, romantic or anniversary gift. Picture the thrill of classic lines personalized with you in them:
"Oh Romeo, Romeo Brad, Brad. Wherefore art thou Romeo Brad?"
"But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet Helen is the sun."
What's more, if you choose the Happy Ending Version a new scene is added with an unexpected plot twist — the lovers live happily ever after! A short scene is added after Act V Scene III. It turns out the apothecary's poison didn't work and Romeo survives, and Juliet's stabbing of herself merely made her pass out. (With sincere apologies to William Shakespeare, Mercutio and Tybalt!)
What a day.
* Ray, 12/02/2004 06:55:10 PM
